


A Comfortable Walking

by jesterlady



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-04
Updated: 2011-11-04
Packaged: 2017-10-25 16:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/272444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterlady/pseuds/jesterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Journey's End, Martha and Mickey share similarities over a drink.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Comfortable Walking

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. The title is from a saying of the Puritans.  
> I also wrote this before End of Time

The Hub was empty and Martha was going to go home. It had been a long day, she’d already patched up several Torchwood agents, and she was ready to take a bath.

There was a noise from upstairs and she froze, then cautiously made her way up the stairs, sliding the taser from her purse.

“Mickey! You about gave me a heart attack. I thought you’d gone home ages ago.”

“Sorry,” Mickey said, glancing up from his work. “But I knew if I didn’t set the accelerators again, Jack would throw a hissy fit.”

“That reaming he gave you last week was quite funny.”

“Unless you were me. Anyways, snuck back in.”

“Well, at least you weren’t a predatory alien invader. I’ve had enough of those today.”

“Was a rather rough day. You want to nip off to the pub?”

Her first instinct was to say no, but it had been a long time since she’d been able to relax with a mate and tomorrow was her day off, barring alien invasion.

“Yeah, all right.”

“Good, come on.”

They walked in companionable silence to a nearby pub, a place Jack regularly took them when he was trying to be a nice employer. They knew the bartender and he got them their drinks without asking.

“You liking the work?” Martha asked.

“Yeah, never would’ve imagined myself ending up at Torchwood, but I suppose it’s a step down from a parallel universe.”

“Slightly yeah. How was that? Fitting into a world that wasn’t yours?”

“Didn’t really have time to relax. There were Cybermen everywhere, Jake and I went all over the world and then we ended up back here and Rose and Jacks came back with us.”

“That help you to settle down more?”

“What, with Captain Alien Amazing still roaming this world? No chance. Rose and I would never be more than mates from the moment she got stranded with us.”

“I guess none of us got what we wanted in the end. Especially the Doctor.”

“No, but I think most of us grew up. Not especially the Doctor.”

Martha had no reply for that.

It was several beers later when Mickey returned the question.

“How about you? You left Unit for this.”

“Well, I still do some work for them. But the Doctor was right. It’s harder to agree with their ethics once you’ve traveled with him.”

“Once he’s shown you a better way of living your life,” Mickey said it like it was a quote from somewhere.

“It’s hard living up to the Doctor. How is it possible even?”

“You’re telling me. That big eared alien shows up and suddenly I’m half the man I used to be.”

“I might be inclined to say I feel the same about blonde human girls.”

Mickey nodded in admission.

“At least you didn’t know the Doctor before she met him.”

“It didn’t make me feel any better.”

“Probably not. And it’s not like you can blame the Doctor. He made all of us better.”

“Yeah, yeah, he did. And I wouldn’t have it any other way, really. I just wish that everything I did wasn’t compared to something someone else did.”

“Here’s to always being second best,” Mickey said, offering his glass.

Martha tapped it in a toast.

“We are very good, though,” she said. “Saving the world on a daily basis and occasionally all on our own.”

“A big, yellow truck.”

“Walking the Earth.”

“You healed him so that he could save us.”

“And you prepared her for a life of destiny.”

“I like having you around, Martha Jones.”

“Likewise, Mr. Smith.”

And Martha smiled, because it didn’t even hurt to use the familiar name.


End file.
